


blood and honey

by Cartographer



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: M/M, Mild Spoilers, Non-Consensual Kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-17
Updated: 2017-01-17
Packaged: 2018-09-18 05:28:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9370010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cartographer/pseuds/Cartographer
Summary: The room within was unremarkable, one of many within Zegnautus Keep for the use of the lowest ranking personnel. There were rows of bunkbeds and other basic furniture, made of the cheapest materials, arranged to hold the maximum of inhabitants heedless of comfort.The walls echoed with the laboured breathing of its only current occupant.Ardyn smiled and stepped inside.





	

His footsteps were the only warning needed for the MTs to avoid him. The mechanical shells may be broken, the daemon souls housed within equally decayed, but enough survival instinct remained to let him walk unmolested through the corridors. Even things that came from the dark knew fear.

The dormitory branched off from the main corridor, out of the way of the MT patrols. The sensors registered his presence and the doors beeped thrice in confirmation before sliding open with a mechanical whirr. There were red smears revealed on the door frame, smudged finger marks where a hand had gripped for support.

The room within was unremarkable, one of many within Zegnautus Keep for the use of the lowest ranking personnel. There were rows of bunkbeds and other basic furniture, made of the cheapest materials, arranged to hold the maximum of inhabitants heedless of comfort.

The walls echoed with the laboured breathing of its only current occupant.

Ardyn smiled and stepped inside.

Noctis seemed asleep, a frail thing curled up in the cot closest to the wall. There was a long cut along his arm where he had been too slow to dodge an axe, blood still oozing out in thin red rivulets that stained the bedsheets.

"Pathetic," Ardyn settled beside the unconscious boy but hurriedly drew back, away from flailing limbs, when the young king's body began to thrash violently. Noctis gasped, face contorted - helpless as the seizure took him. Then the spasms stopped as sudden as they had begun, brief agonising seconds of pain that left Noctis shivering and drained.

It was not the wound that had done in the boy, nor the blood loss. Ardyn had enjoyed himself immensely planning the slow capture and torture of his longwaited adversary, here within the heart of the empire. He had plotted out with precision every obstacle, every humiliation that he would heap upon this unworthy king favoured by the gods — but the poison gas had evidently done its work a little too well.

"I even left you useful gifts," he produced a bottle that gleamed gold, toyed with it between his fingers "and you squander it" The remedies had been secreted at what he had presumed to be obvious checkpoints; he had envisioned watching Noctis wander like a trapped mouse unaware he was being led on by his enemy. Kindle a little hope, an illusion of respite from pain before snatching it away again and again.

But Noctis in his panic and exhaustion had simply stumbled into entirely the wrong direction. Disoriented and unable to fight, it had been a miracle he was able to reach the safety of a dorm with only a minor wound. Ardyn had been equal parts amused at his wretched performance and irritated that he would have to intervene. He had deigned to leave his control room to once again play savior to the pitiable Chosen King.

Ardyn cups the boy's face, burning hot to touch, and tilts it upwards to the light. Queen Aulea had been a stunning woman while she lived and she had bestowed that beauty upon her son; a lovely, petite face and delicate features. Even with the effects of the poison leaving him drawn and pallid, there was no denying Noctis was exquisite. Ardyn's hands itched dig into pale skin and tear at flesh.

"Do you ever dream of her?" he strokes limp strands of hair away from the feverish forehead in mimicry of a loving touch. "The mother I took away from you?" Noctis's eyelashes fluttered, slowly sliding open "Or perhaps the father you lost to the war I orchestrated" Eyes that should be the fierce summer sky blue inherited from his mother, were glazed with pain and unseeing.

Ardyn scowled. There was no joy in gloating without an appreciative audience.

He uncapped the bottle with his teeth, dug his fingers into Noctis's jaw, worked it apart and tipped the contents into his open mouth.

Noctis bucked frantically at this violation, throat convulsing as he coughed and spilled the golden liquid everywhere. The bed squeaked alarmingly with the force of his outburst.

Ardyn tutted as if the king was simply some errant child refusing to take his medicine. "Come now Noct, it's a bitter pill to swallow but you will thank me in the long run." Noctis, still unconscious and shaking, turned away from him as if he heard.

There was still enough left for the antidote to work. Ardyn considered his options briefly and took a sip, careful not to swallow. He slid an arm under Noctis's shoulder, easing him up so he lay half on his lap. His hand coaxed the boy's jaw open, gentler this time. Ardyn bent, sealed his mouth over parted lips, silencing his ragged breaths.

Noctis moaned, body trembling beneath Ardyn as he felt the intrusion in his mouth. Ardyn was pleasantly surprised to find the young king still had enough strength in him to struggle, bringing up his hands to grip fistfuls of fabric and push weakly at Ardyn's shoulders.

He stroked the pale throat tenderly, cajoling the boy to swallow. Noctis's mouth was as fevered as the rest of him, a soft heat. Ardyn smiled as he leaned away, the medicine finished.

He took another drink and pressed forward, a little more forcefully. His fingers—at first carding affectionately through fine blue-black hair—tightened as Noctis whimpered and tried to squirm away, holding his head still.

Slowly the somnolent effects of the antidote stole the last of the young king's strength, his fingers uncurling from their hold on Ardyn's scarf, his mouth going slack and open. Ardyn licked into the pliant mouth, all pretense at feeding gone, greedily tangling his tongue. Noctis tasted so alive, at once so warm and human, and yet brimming with power that was anything but. He bit down hard. The bloom of iron on his tongue was a heady explosion. Even weakened as Noctis was, Ardyn could taste the divine power in his blood, wanted to drink down all the magic in his veins and scour him clean down to the bones.

He could not sate his hunger, all two thousand years of it, so quickly. He forced himself to pull back and looked down. Noctis was a mess, teary-eyed from his initial coughing fit, lips bloody, kiss swollen and wet, breaths coming in tired sobs. Young and tragic. It was a _beautiful_ sight. Ardyn wiped at the wet tracks streaking down the boy's sallow cheeks, staining his sleeve with tears.

"Still not quite enough I believe," he purred in low tones to soothe the stricken king, and fed him the last of the potion.

With no fight left in him, Noctis finally accepted the dose obediently. Ardyn smiled into the kiss, charmed at how obscenely the young king suckled the liquid from his tongue, every drop swallowed docilely. The excruciating spasms had all but gone, his body slowly going limp in Ardyn's embrace, exhausted but no longer in pain.

Satisfied, Ardyn lowered Noctis onto the pillow, stroked his cheek as he watched his eyes slip shut and his breathing evened out into recuperative sleep.

"Rest well little puppet king," he hummed cheerfully as he tucked the blanket around Noctis. "You will need all your strength to continue dancing for my pleasure."

He stood, straightened the wrinkles from his scarf and swept out without a backward glance.

The Chosen King would die at his behest no sooner no later and only until Ardyn had played enough of his games. There was still the touching reunion with his friends to be had, the revelation of dear Prompto's thrilling little secret and of course the grand finale with the Crystal.

So many acts left and Noctis still needed to suffer his role to play and Ardyn was looking forward to the ending of this farce once and for all.


End file.
